The present invention relates to the technical field of a print system for outputting prints (photographs) each having an image and the like which are recorded on a film and reproduced thereon and a reorder sheet used to the print system.
At present, the images recorded on photographic films such as negatives and reversals (which are hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cfilmsxe2x80x9d) are printed onto light-sensitive materials (photographic papers) by a technique generally called xe2x80x9cdirect exposurexe2x80x9d (analog exposure) in which the image on a film is projected onto the light-sensitive material for areal exposure.
In contrast, a printer which adopts digital exposure has recently been commercialized. In this xe2x80x9cdigital photoprinterxe2x80x9d, the image recorded on a film is read photoelectrically and converted into digital signals, which are subjected to various kinds of image processing to produce recording image data; and a light-sensitive material is scanned and exposed with recording light modulated in accordance with the image data, thereby recording a (latent) image which is output as a print.
In digital photoprinters, the image is converted into digital image data and exposing conditions used in print operation can be determined by processing that image data. Hence, by using such digital photoprinters, the correction of washed-out highlight of images or dull shadow of images due to photography with rear light or an electronic flash, the correction of under- or over-exposure, the correction of the insufficiency of marginal light, sharpening, and various other kinds of image processing, the execution of which by the conventional direct exposure technique has heretofore been impossible or difficult, can be performed with a high degree of freedom. With this operation, prints having higher quality as compared with that of prints made by the direct exposure can be output. In addition, a plurality of images can be composited into a single image or one image can be split into segments or even characters can be composited by the processing of image data. If desired, prints can be output after desired editing/processing is carried out in accordance with a specific application.
The capability of digital photoprinters is by no means limited to outputting the image as a print (photograph) and they enable the image data to be supplied to computers or stored in recording mediums such as floppy disks and so forth; thus, with digital photoprinters, the image data can be used in various applications other than photography.
Having these features, the digital photoprinter is composed of the following three basic parts; a scanner (image reading apparatus) which reads the image recorded on a film with a CCD sensor or the like photoelectrically; an image processing apparatus which performs various kinds of image processing (image data processing) to the image data read with the scanner to thereby produce output image data, that is, to determine the conditions for exposing a light-sensitive material which is output as prints; and a printer (image recording apparatus) which exposes a light-sensitive material with recording light such as optical beams or the like which are modulated in accordance with the image data determined by the image processing apparatus and subjects the exposed light-sensitive material to preset development processing and outputs the light-sensitive material as the (finished) prints.
Incidentally, when prints are made from a film, it is often requested to make extra prints by printing the image of the same frame a plurality of times. In the extra prints, it is required that the color and density of the images of prints which were output previously (ordinarily, prints output in simultaneous printing) are matched with those of the images reproduced in the prints (reprints) output as the extra prints.
However, the color and density of the images of the previous prints are often different from those of the images of the reprints due to the difference between print systems and the difference between the judgements and operations of operators, about which customers often make a complaint.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to solve the problems of the prior art and to provide a print system for outputting prints on which the images recorded on a photographic film and the images recorded with a digital camera and the like are reproduced, the print system being arranged such that it permits the reorder from a customer, that is, the request from the customer for extra prints and the like to be processed simply and moreover can output reprints having images reproduced thereon whose color and density are preferably matched with those of the images of previous prints.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a reorder sheet which can be used to the print system and which is capable of ordering or requesting reprints or extra prints from customer in the easy and convenient manner.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a print system for subjecting original images to image processing and outputting prints having the original images reproduced thereon, comprising the steps of: setting identifying information according to one order of print production; storing the identifying information, image processing information which was applied to each of the original images, and information of the respective original images of the one order in storing means by causing them to correspond to each other; outputting a reorder sheet on which the original images of the one order, the identifying information and the information of the respective original images of the one order are recorded; reading out, when original images previously printed are output as reprints, the image processing information of the original images to be reprinted from the storing means using the identifying information and the information of the respective original images of the one order which have been recorded on the reorder sheet; and basically reproducing the image processing which was employed when prints were produced previously using the read-out image processing information.
It is preferable that the identifying information is arranged as a barcode, and recorded on the reorder sheet and the image processing information of the original images is read out from the storing means by reading the barcode.
Further, it is preferable that the image processing information includes at least one of the kinds of image processing steps applied, the sequence of the image processing steps and image processing conditions.
Furthermore, it is preferable that the original images are reproduced to the prints by digitally recording an image based on image data obtained by the image processing, and the image data obtained by the image processing is stored in the storing means.
To achieve the above another objet, the prevent invention provides a reorder sheet which is used to a print system for subjecting original images to image processing and outputting prints having the original images reproduced thereon; comprising original images of one order of print production recorded thereon and information of respective original images of said one order recorded thereon.
It is preferable that the reorder sheet further comprises identifying information according to the one order.